Deanna Swenson, a former Clackamas County elections employee accused of ballot tampering, said a prescription drug affected her cognitive thinking at the time of the alleged incident Oct. 31. She apologized to her family and the community as she sat in the office of her attorney, Jason Short, right.Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian

OREGON CITY -- Deanna Swenson, a former Clackamas County elections employee, pleaded not guilty in Circuit Court this afternoon to charges of ballot tampering.

Swenson, 55, did not speak during the two-minute arraignment. The Beavercreek resident's next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 16.

A Clackamas County grand jury indicted her Nov. 28 on two counts each of unlawfully altering a cast ballot,
unlawfully voting more than once and first-degree official misconduct.

Tampering with ballots and voting more than once are Class C felonies
punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $125,000 fine. Official
misconduct is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in a
jail and a $6,250 fine.

Swenson's parents and other family members attended the arraignment, her attorney, Jason Short, said afterwards outside the courthouse. "She's hanging in there," he said.

Clackamas County Clerk Sherry Hall, who is charged with running elections in the county, also attended the hearing and left immediately afterwards.

Oregon Department of Justice spokesman Jeff Manning previously declined to specify the number of ballots Swenson is suspected of altering. Authorities previously said on Nov. 6 -- Election Day -- that six suspect ballots had been identified.

Swenson was reported by another temporary elections worker, Victoria Pounds of Canby. Pounds is also a registered Republican.

Swenson, a lifelong asthmatic, said she was also suffering from a sinus
infection, head cold and bronchitis and was "very, very sick" when she
went into work Oct. 31. She had been taking prescription prednisone
since Oct. 28 to open up the airways in her lungs so she could breathe,
she said. The drug is often used as an anit-inflammatory.

"It screws up your cognitive thinking," she said last week. "Anybody who's been on it knows it affects your thinking."